(blend of 90.5% cabernet sauvignon, 8.5% merlot, and 0.5% each cabernet franc and petit verdot; 83 IPT; 36% selection for the grand vin Deep, opaque, glass-staining ruby-purple. Intensely pure, classic Bordeaux cabernet sauvignon aromas of fresh blackcurrant, minerals, cedar and truffle, with sweeter blueberry and intense floral notes emerging with air. The palate offers great depth of flavor, but the wine is currently hard as nails and lacking in generosity. Still, there's great depth of pristine dark fruit lurking beneath the heavy cloak of smooth, high-quality tannins. Amazingly balanced and extremely long, but this Latour will need a good two decades to approach optimal maturity, and may be better suited for your grandchildren. A winemaking tour de force, this may very well be the wine of the vintage.

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90.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8.5% Merlot, and a drop each of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. 36% of total production. Extremely dark purple. Again, more 'glamour’ than I expected. Especially on the nose. Very ambitious and gorgeous. Thick and dense and hugely long term and dry on the end. Spices – something quite Asian about this – a hint of Szechuan pepper. Explosive. Super dry and introvert but with great velvety texture. So introvert and super dry, super Latour. Monumental. The massive fruit lurks underneath the very ripe tannins at the moment. IPT 83, less than Les Forts, but it tastes much firmer.

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One of the perfect wines of the vintage, Frederic Engerer challenged me when I tasted the 2010 Latour at the estate, asking, 'If you rate the 2009 one hundred, then how can this not be higher?â?� Well, the scoring system stops at 100, (and has for 34 years,) and will continue for as long as I continue to write about wine. Nevertheless, this blend of 90.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9.5% Merlot, and .5% Petit Verdot hit 14.4% natural alcohol and represents a tiny 36% of their entire production. The pH is about 3.6, which is normal compared to the 3.8 pH of the 2009, that wine being slightly lower in alcohol, hence the combination that makes it more flamboyant and accessible. The 2010 is a liquid skyscraper in the mouth, building layers upon layers of extravagant, if not over-the-top richness with its hints of subtle charcoal, truffle, blackberry, cassis, espresso and notes of toast and graphite. Full-bodied, with wonderfully sweet tannin, it is a mind-boggling, prodigious achievement that should hit its prime in about 15 years, and last for 50 to 100.

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Unbelievably pure, with distilled cassis and plum fruit that cuts a very precise path, while embers of anise, violet and black cherry confiture form a gorgeous backdrop. A bedrock of graphite structure should help this outlive other 2010s. Powerful, sleek and incredibly long. Not perfect, but very close.

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